Review: THEIR LITTLE SECRET, Mark Billingham

• format: kindle (Amazon)
• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 788 KB
• Print Length: 400 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group (2 May 2019)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B07KW91G2B
• Thorne & Tanner series #16

Synopsis (author)

Sarah thinks of herself as a normal single mum. It’s what she wants others to think of her. But the truth is, she needs something new, something thrilling.

Meanwhile, DI Tom Thorne is investigating a woman’s suicide, convinced she was driven to do it by a man who preys on vulnerable women.

A man who is about to change Sarah’s life.

My Take

Although this is part of quite a long series, with several minor plot threads connecting to previous novels, it works quite well as a stand-alone.

The novel begins with the aftermath of a middle aged woman throwing herself under a train. Although this is obviously a suicide Tom Thorne becomes concerned with why she did it. He meets her sister and niece who tells him about how a con artist fleeced her of her savings. He would dearly like to find the con man and charge him with manslaughter.

In the second chapter we meet Sarah, a young mum who has just dropped her son Jamie off at his new school. She is meeting other mums for coffee and she meets an older man.

From these two starting points the novel quickly develops complexity and in surprising ways.

A very good read.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read
4.4, TALKING TO THE DEAD
4.5, RUSH OF BLOOD
 

Review: RUSH OF BLOOD, Mark Billingam

• this large print edition published by W F Howes Ltd 2012
• ISBN 978-1-47120-637-5
• 518 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

Perfect strangers. A perfect holiday. The perfect murder...

Three couples meet around the pool on their Florida holiday and become fast friends. But on their last night, their perfect holiday takes a tragic twist: the teenage daughter of another holidaymaker goes missing, and her body is later found floating in the mangroves. When the shocked couples return home, they remain in contact, and over the course of three increasingly fraught dinner parties they come to know one another better. But they don't always like what they find: buried beneath these apparently normal exteriors are some dark secrets, hidden kinks, ugly vices... Then, a second girl goes missing. Could it be that one of these six has a secret far darker than anybody can imagine? A brilliantly plotted, utterly gripping thriller about the danger of making friends on holiday.

My take

3 couples: Angie and Barry, Sue and Ed, Marina and Dave, meet at a Florida resort, and on their last day at the hotel the intellectually challenged daughter of another holiday maker goes missing. The three British couples are questioned about their whereabouts at the time the girl went missing, and nothing seems suspicious and they are allowed to fly home.

The structure of the book is interesting: emails arranging dinner parties once they are home, chapters exploring how each couple happened to take that holiday along with other details of their marriages, interspersed with the occasional chapter in the voice of the murderer.

At their first meeting back in London the conversation inevitably turns to whether the missing girl in Florida has been found. Back in Florida We are introduced to Detective Jeffrey Gardner, in charge of the investigation. Six weeks after she disappeared the body of the young girl is found, and in London the Lewisham CID room gets a request from the Florida detective for follow up interviews of the British tourists. The task is handed to Trainee Detective Constable Jenny Quinlan who is determined to make her mark. And then a second girl goes missing, but this time in Jenny's territory.

This was a really well plotted story. It had me asking who the murderer was- trying to identify him or her from those very short chapters that kept popping up.

As it turned I was very nearly right, but the author inserted a couple of real twists at the end.

My rating: 4.5 

I've also read
4.3, TALKING TO THE DEAD

And the winner of Billingam's DEATH MESSAGE was..

For the last week I have run a small competition where entrants could win a copy of Mark Billingham's DEATH MESSAGE.

The competition closed on May 9.

There were 4 entrants with correct answers:
Sunnie, Luanne, Dorte, and Tim.
The "cat's paw" has chosen Sunnie as the winner.

The questions and answers
1. How many novels does Mark Billingham list on his site?
answer: 8
2. What is the name of Billingham's detective?
answer: Detective Inspector Tom Thorne
3. Who has been killed in the Prologue of DEATH MESSAGE?
answer: Angies & Robbie

Download the first chapter at http://www.markbillingham.com/message.html

Win a copy of DEATH MESSAGE, Mark Billingham

#crimefiction

I have discovered I have two copies of DEATH MESSAGE so am using the paperback size one for this competition.

You have until end of Saturday 9 May to enter.

You will need to visit Mark Billingham's own site to get information for the answers
If more than one person gives the correct answer, I will draw the name out of a hat.
I am willing to send the book anywhere, but it will come by snail mail.

The questions
1. How many novels does Mark Billingham list on his site?
2. What is the name of Billingham's detective?
3. Who has been killed in the Prologue of DEATH MESSAGE?
Download the first chapter at http://www.markbillingham.com/message.html

Ready to enter?

DON"T give the answer in comments!
I have set up a special form on Google Docs. No logging in, should just be accessible from here in your browser.
By all means leave me a comment here to let me know you've entered.